


Blue Brush (This is an Adopted Work/Continuation)

by insane_voices_seldom_scilent16



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abusive Dad mcclain, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff to come, Gayness, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, M/M, Mental Illness, Pining, Self-Harm, highschool, injuries, keith and shiro brothers - Freeform, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:28:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26331910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insane_voices_seldom_scilent16/pseuds/insane_voices_seldom_scilent16
Summary: Lance is an anonymous Instagram artist. Keith just joined his group of Fans. They're in their Junior year of Highschool, and things are going to get wild...RandomlyDrowning is the original author for this work! The first four chapters are theirs! I adopted this fic from them.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RandomlyDrowning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomlyDrowning/gifts).



Keith frowned at his phone, having absolutely nothing to do at this ungodly hour in the morning. He had woken up all on his own thinking he slept through his alarm- although that had never happened before- and couldn’t fall back asleep. He’d already finished the books he had and even read them twice before. Left with nothing else, he decided to go on his Instagram account, that he never uses, and check his explore page.

Keith was never the person who followed celebrities, he didn’t pay them any mind actually. So there he lay, on his right side facing the scarlet red wall of his bedroom under his black colored blanket, scrolling through his Instagram. The only social media he actually had. His raven black hair fell to the side as his violet-grey eyes scanned the screen in front of him. Nothing was seeming to catch his attention, He must have gotten pretty far down because some art started to pop up on his screen.

Art never held any kind of interest in him either. Keith let out a huff and continued his scroll.

Boring. Boring. Boring. Bor-

Wait...

That’s-

That’s actually pretty awesome.

“Damn” Keith whispered.

It looked almost real. The picture in front of him was of an ocean. All shades of blue were waves crashing onto the shore. The night sky shining with stars surrounding a full moon. The sky reflected across the sea and the whole thing almost seemed like it was glowing.

There. Top right corner. The artist's signature.

LeMc

LeMc????

Keith moved onto his back and read the caption.

I remember my home. The place I grew up. Never thought I would miss it so much. The ocean was a big part of that, and so, I’ve put my love into the thing I’ve missed the most.

He felt a pang in his heart. Wh-Why had that- He doesn’t even know the person! Wait... does he? He clicked the profile picture that was a Russian Blue cat. He first checked the bio.

He/Him   
Bisexual   
Live streams every Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Unless I’m busy) Time Frame for live streams and new posts 9-11pm   
I hope you enjoy my work!!

Nope. No name mentioned. Maybe there was a picture somewhere??

Keith started to scroll down and all he saw was more beautiful artwork. Nothing more. Not that he was complaining. The artworks were amazing and he just had to go check them out more thoroughly later. Took him awhile but nope, no pictures of the artist who’s still anonymous. Keith didn’t know what to expect. This guy could be on the other side of the US and not know it. Maybe he lived in the Caribbean’s or South America. He could live anywhere in the world. So Keith wasn’t sure why he thought he knew the man. But... there was something about that signature. LeMc. It could stand for anything. Although something about that signature was oddly familiar.

It pissed Keith off that he couldn’t put his finger on it. Just somethi-

Rapid banging on the door scared Keith out of his thoughts.

“KEITH! WAKE UP! WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!”

“Calm down!! I’m awake!!” Keith yelled right back at his older brother.

“Well then, HURRY UP!” Shiro yelled through the door but stopped the banging. He waited until his brothers' footsteps could no longer be heard, disappearing down the hall, before going back to his phone that was dropped onto the floor. Sitting on the edge of the bed his red boxers were almost covered by his oversized white t-shirt he stole from his brother with his socks still on. He picked up his phone from off the floor and wondered- how on earth did it get nearly under his bed??

He looked at the clock on his nightstand. How can it be 6:30 already?!? He shook his head and went to the account he opened up before his brother knocked on the door.

BluePaladin101

He clicked the follow button. There was no way he would lose all that cool artwork. Even if art was never his thin-

Wait...

What the hell happened to his alarm?!?  
____________________

“Buenos días, Lance!” His mamá called from the kitchen when he came downstairs.

“Buenos días, Mamá”.

“So, you excited for your first day, Leonardo?”

“Eh. Not really. It’s just junior year. Not too worried. Anyways what did I do wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You never call me by my real name unless I’ve done something wrong.”

“Can’t a mother call her son whatever she wants to without being questioned?”

“Nope”. He popped the ’p’.

His mother sighed. “I’m just worried”.

He raised an eyebrow, “About?”

His mother turned to him and smiled. “Nothing you need to worry about sweetie. Just come and eat breakfast already. And hurry up. You’re going to miss the bus!”  
__________________

”Hey, ” A familiar voice called out, ”Lance wait up!”

The said boy turned around to face his longtime best friend. ”Hunk, hey!” They were currently entering the Garrison as the busses have just arrived. The school was HUGE. Lance may or may have not gotten lost the first couple of months in freshman year.

”Lance, what's up man? I haven't seen you in a while!” Hunk was wearing a yellow sweatshirt, dark jeans, and as usual, his orange headband. Lance, on the other hand, was wearing a white and blue striped long sleeve sweater as well as light jeans that had some rips in them due to Lance's continuous streak of getting hurt.

”Hunk, buddy, we saw each other like a week ago.”

”Well! A lot can happen in one week! So how have you been?”

”I'm fine, ” he lied, ”how are you though?”

”Aww man, you won't believe what happened the other day!”  
_______________

”Hey there Keithers”.

”Hey Pigeon”. He didn't even need to look at her to know that she looked like trash. Like, he looks like trash too. He's wearing a gray oversized hoodie and black skinny jeans with his read tennis shoes. His hair up in a very messy ponytail because he forgot to brush it, Shiro had spared him a rubber band in the car. And he just knew he had a tired look on his face that was just proven with the light circles under his eyes.

”Dude, did you roll out of bed or something?”

”Yeah, you look like trash too”. That's when he finally looked down at the little gremlin and, she did in fact, look like trash. Her hair crazy and everywhere. Big round glasses took up most of her face and hid some of the freckles on her nose and cheeks. She was wearing a green shirt that had an alien on it as well as khaki shorts that went down to her knees. Dark circles were under her hazel eyes, evidence that she hadn't slept properly or at all in a couple of days.

”Yeah, I know. I've had to drink like two cups of coffee to keep me awake”.

”How many cups of coffee did you drink in the last three days?”

”Uh...no comment”.

”Pidge”.

”Let's just say that we had to buy a lot more coffee”. Keith just rolled his eyes, typical Pidge.

”Hey, where's Shiro? Usually, you don't leave his side”.

”Shiro got swept off his feet by Adam. And I am NOT going to be the third wheel around them. You do not know how gross they get, and that's only IN public. You have not seen them when they are alone. And trust me when I say, you never want to”. His face scrunched up in disgust as he remembered how his brother was around Adam in privacy. They kept making googly eyes at each other and Shiro was already sappy as is, that was in public...

”Yikes. I feel bad for you. They around you much?”

”All summer long”.  
__________________

”And then BAM! And it was AWESOME!”

Lance listened to Hunks story with amusement. Watching happily as his friend did numerous hand movements as he explained his story to Lance with enthusiasm.

He doesn't care, he's just hanging out with you because there's no one else right now. You're the last choice. And you always will be.

No that's not true.

You know it is. Why on earth would anyone want to hang out with you? Do you think they really care about you? That's hilarious.

”-nce, buddy, are you ok man?”

Lance snapped out of his thought and immediately put on his fake smile. ”Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?”

Liar. You lie to your friends now? You're lying to your best friend right now. What kind of friend are you?

”You sure you're okay, man?”

Now he's worried about you. Doesn't he deal with enough trash? You just gotta make it worse. Don't you? Always such a burden.

”Yeah man, I'm good”.

You're lying again…

”Whatever you say, man”.

He doesn't care about you. He never has. He just took pity on such a pathetic thing. You.

I'm not pathetic…

We both know that's a lie. Are you lying to yourself now?

”Hey, have you seen anyone else yet? Where are the others?”

What a way to change the subject. Do you really think the others care about you? Want to actually see you?

“No, I haven’t,” Hunk frowned and started to look around, spinning in a circle, “Huh. I wonder where they are. Let's go look for them.”

He just wants to get away from you, can’t you see? He’s trying to avoid you. Bring the others so he doesn’t have to talk to you.

That’s not true. He said, “let’s”. He meant me too. He doesn't want to avoid me.

...Does he?

You’re finally getting it. Who would have known your stupid, useless brain can actually figure something out?

“Ya, sure, let’s round up the gang. And maybe...see if everyone's free tonight to go see the carnival that just came to town?”

Hunks eyes lit up immediately, “That sounds amazing Lance! We can do right after school too! It's only a ten-minute walk! I can’t wait to eat the food there! Like elephant ears or the Chilli Cheese Hot Dogs...and don’t get me started on the Churros”.

Lance laughed and patted his friends back. “Hunk, buddy, my man, we gotta see if everyone else is free first...unless you want to go on all the rides with me yourself?”

Hunks eyes widened and he took a couple of steps back, “Nuh-uh, no way, I am NOT going on ANY rides with you, you maniac! Remember the Zipper from last year? The one you convinced me to go on? I felt my soul leave my BODY!”

Lance laughed again, “Hunk it wasn’t so bad”.

“You devil. I don’t know how you do it. You are crazy. Aren’t you scared that the ride might break with you on it? You realize how many carnival rides broke with people on it?”

“Nah, I’m not too worried”. He waved his hand at Hunk dismissing it. He turned around walking away from his friend. He heard footsteps behind him a little while later and soon Hunk was by his side again.

“You are insane”. Lance just chuckled and continued walking until his phone vibrated and he pulled it out to see the text he got.

Pidge: Lance! Where are you? We can’t find you anywhere!

Lance: I’m at the back entrance with Hunk right now. Where are you? Also is Keith, Shiro, and Allura with you?

Pidge: I’m at the main entrance right now. I’ve got Keith with me.

Lance: What about Shiro and Allura? Also isn’t Romelle coming to The Garrison this year?

Pidge: Keith said Shiro went with his boyfriend. I don’t know where Allura is though. And yeah Romelle is supposed to come this year.

Lance: Ok, meet me and Hunk in our spot. See if you can get Shiro to come. I’ll get Romelle and Allura.  
_____________________

Keith tapped his foot on the tiles under his feet. Pidge took him to their usual spot, waiting on the others.

The first day of school is the worst. It's always so crowded and busy. Students trying to find their classes and confusion with the schedules. Classes start in twenty minutes. But he wasn't too worried. Shiro and Adam were already here. They were being a gross couple again and Keith did his best to ignore them. He didn't need to see his brother and Lance's cousin make googly eyes at each other. It was already weird as is knowing that it was Lance's cousin Shiro was dating.

Pidge was working on a project. Her laptop was out and she had a determined look on her face that Keith did not dare disturb. So that’s how Keith ended up on his Instagram--looking at BluePaladin101s’ work. And man was it amazing.

This guy is so talented. Wonder how old he his…

I swear if he's like 13 I will cry.

He must be in college or something. No way he's that young. You can't be that talented.

“Sup’ losers? Ack! No! Shiro! Adam! Go somewhere else to be gross!”

Keith looked up at Lance and said, “I've been trying to tell em’ their gross and to get a room but Shiro told me to get a boyfriend and then we'll talk”.

“Ya cuz’ I bet you when you get a boyfriend you'll be worse than me”. Shiro looked over at him with a smirk.

Keith just rolled his eyes and shook his head turning off his phone and putting it away.

“Well, I, for one think it's cute”. Allura said with an impossibly bright smile. She was wearing pink jeans with a white t-shirt tucked in, her white hair was in a braid over her shoulder. Romelle, Allura’s cusion, who was standing next to her was wearing a jean skirt with a pink and blue crop-top.

“Ya, it's just adorable!” She practically squealed. Her dirty blonde hair was in pigtails that bounced a little.

Lance looked over at her with a look that clearly said; the hell? Are you crazy? How the hell are they adorable??

Keith completely agreed.

“Dude. No.”

“Ya man, they're gross.” Pidge who finally looked up let out a sigh and put her laptop clearly not going to get any more work done.

“Anyways… Guest who made peanut-butter cookies?” Hunk pulled out a bag of perfectly shaped, heavenly cookies and Keith felt mouth water.

Everyone jumped up and went to Hunk who was holding the cookies out of reach.

“Hunk come on man! You didn't tell me you made cookies!”

“That's cuz’ if I had you would've stolen it and hide them all without me knowing, you thief. And calm down guys I made enough for everyone to get three”.

“Really?!? Aw Hunk you're the best!!” Pidge actually squealed. Hunks peanut butter cookies are one thing she won't hesitate to jump in front of a car for.

“Hey, everybody whaddup? Wait… Are those peanut butter cookies?!?”

“NOO! GO AWAY MATT!”

“NO WAY PIDGE!”

“Calm down, I made some for Matt too”.

“Really?!? Hunk, I owe you one man. You're the best!”

“I know,” Hunk smiled.

“Hey, that's what I said!” Pidge hit her brother. Which just started a fight between the two.

Shiro sighed, “Siblings…”

“What about them, Shiro?” Keith asked looking at his brother expectedly.

He just shook his head and moved away from Adam and to the two identical siblings to stop the fight before they brought more attention to themselves.  
_____________________

“Ok, Dad”.

“Sorry, Dad”.

“I told you guys to stop calling me that!!! I'm not your dad!!!”

Lance chuckled as he watched Shiro who has just finished scolding the two on fighting.

Oh, he was definitely the definition of a dad…

How would you know? You never had a proper dad. How would you know the definition of a dad?

Oh...right.

“Shiro, you are a dad”.

“Keith, I'm your brother”.

“Yet you dad me all the damn time. What a surprise”.

“Can I please pass out my cookies before class starts?”

“YES!” He turned to Hunk and made grabby-hands at him, “Give me food”.

Hunk chuckled and gave Lance his three cookies. Lance bit into one immediately and moaned.

“Hunk these are sooo good, ” he said with his mouth full, ”they are from heaven”.

“Huuuunk, I want cookies too!”

‘Ok, ok calm down. Everyone will get three ONLY”.

“Fine,” Pidge pouted. Three was better than nothing after all.  
________________

The bell rang once everyone finished their cookies, signaling that they had 10 minutes to get to their first class. You would think that’s a lot, but not when you’ve got new classes and considering how big the school is you need more than ten. Especially if your classes were on the other side of the school.

Lance had, thankfully, his first class with two of his friends; Hunk and Keith. He remembered when he first met Keith, they were both sixth graders on the first day of school. They bumped into each other when Lance was running around the school because he was lost. The second time he met him was in class, apparently they were going to the same class and Lance had arrived ten minutes late (he had to have a teacher take him to his class). Lance had sat next to Keith and tried to talk to him when he was ignored, multiple times. Then they met again in freshman year, the fact that he didn't remember Lance from middle-school at all started the stupid rivalry. Then Adam, his cousin, and Shiro started dating when Keith and Lance were in their Sophomore year. He got over his one-sided rivalry and became close with Keith. They got along but everything was still a competition between the two…

Kinda annoyed their friends to no end when they got competitive…

Oops…

Their competitiveness, as you can call it, usually ended with them getting in trouble or hurt…

That was fun, huh?

Felt like yesterday when they first met.

Oh, how times change…

They arrived at their first-period class.

Physics, room 213B

Wonderful, starting with a subject I absolutely hate and am terrible at…

You’re terrible at everything.

They sat next to each other and listened to Keith's story of awkwardly running into Mr. Anderson, the gym teacher, at Comic Con wearing a Mothman is Real shirt and a bunch of other mothman stuff. How he tried to awkwardly walk away from the teacher who was dress up as an anime character from a childs show for 5 year olds that, apparently, didn’t wear a shirt but a vest and short shorts. Lance got cramps with how hard he laughed and was completely out of breath. Hunk was no different hunched over, crying.

“Attention class! I’m your physics teacher, Mr. Iverson. So take a sti everyone I’m going to do attendance”.

Oh no…

The one teacher that has it out for me…

God damn it.  
_________________

“Well that was hell”. Lance concluded

“I’m with you there”. Keith agreed.

“Come on guys, it wasn’t so bad”.

“Say that when you don’t have a teacher who wants to fail you”.

“He doesn't want to do that, Lance”.

“Did you not see the way he looked when he saw my name? Or how about how he said it?”

“Lance”.

“Dude, Iverson does have it out for Lance. Trust me. I can tell, I’m not that oblivious”.

“Oh shut it, Keith, you are literally Iverson's favorite student”.

“No, I’m not”.

“Yes, you are”. Lance and Hunk said at the same time.

I am not his favorite.

Wait…

Am I?

“Ugh, I have P.E. next”. Lance groaned.

“Dude, tell Mr. Anderson I said hi”.

“Oh hell ya I am”.

“You two are going to be the end of him”. Hunk sighed.

“Don’t care. Man, I can’t wait to see the look on his face”.

“Can you record it for me? I want to see it too”. Keith asked smiling.

“Dude, of course! I want to look back at it. Plus you have got to tell the others at lunch what happened so we can show em’ too”.

“Gotcha bud”.

Hunk smiled and shook his head, “Poor Mr. Anderson”.  
_________________

The group sat at a table squished together for the lack of room.. Lance had just come back sweating and red-faced. A huge smile was spread on his face and his eyes were bright. He looked at Keith and started laughing slightly, shaking his head. Everyone else questioned him and he just nudged his head over at Keith direction, who, also had a huge smile. Hunk was shaking his head looking down at the table and chuckling. Keith told them what happened and that had the group laughing like Hunk and Lance had. Soon enough they were demanding the video and so Lance pulled out his phone, showing the video he secretly recorded.

“Hello, Mr.Anderson! How are you doing today?”

“I’m doing quite well actually. How have you been?”

“Oh, I’m good. Anyways what did you do this summer?”

“Not much…”

“Oh ok… by the way Keith says hi! He can’t wait to see you at the next comic con!”

“Yes tell him I said h-wait… WHAT?!?” Mr.Anderson started to make unintelligible noises and spluttered. His face beat red, his eyes were saucers.

They heard Lance’s laugh right before the video ended.

The group was dying of laughter. It took a really long time for any of them to calm down. It also got them a lot of looks from other tables.

After they calmed down Keith demanded that Lance send it to him.

And he did.

And Keith saved it.

They decided to finally eat before the bell for the end of lunch rang. A bunch of subject were thrown around. Jokes shared. Blackmail content was given. A competition held between Lance and Keith.

Keith won. Lance admitted defeat with a “Quiznack!”. Shiro, being the dad he is, replied with; “Language”.

Lance started singing, “Tell me why~”.

Shiro joined him, “Ain't nothin' but a heartache~”.

“Tell me why~”.

”Ain't nothin' but a mistake~”.

“Tell me why~”.

“I never want to hear you say~”.

“I want it that way~” Both of them said at the same time while everyone else laughed.

So all in all a normal day.

“Oh yeah! Before I forget, guys whos free tonight after school?”

A bunch of ‘I am’s were given.

“Great!! So I was thinking… why don’t we go to the carnival after school? It’ll be fun”.

“Wait the carnival that just came to town?” Allura asked, “That sound like a brilliant idea Lance!”

“So who’s in besides Allura and Hunk?”

Everyone raised their hands.

This was going to be fun.

And of course…

“I bet you I can win the most games, Mullet”.

The whole group let out a groan.

“Lance those games are rigged”. Pidge tried to reason.

“Oh, you are on”. Keith said with a smirk on his face.

“Who’s going to make sure neither of them go broke?” Pidge asked.

“Not it,” Everyone said at the same time except for one person…

“Shiro it’s your turn,” Adam spoke up with a smile and nudged his boyfriend.

“Quiznack”.

“Language~” The table mocked.  
________________

They just arrived at the carnival, Lance and Keith already ran off to one of the rides. Allura, Adam, Shiro, and Matt following them. Hunk, Pidge, Romelle, and Shay (who Hunk invited over the phone because she goes to a different school and to which Lance teased him about, “We are not dating!”, “Yet”) sat to the side and waited for the rest of the group to come. Pidge, apparently, was too short to go on the Zipper, so she had to wait for later. Hunk, Romelle, and Shay just didn’t want to go one rides like the Zipper.

They were waiting for the Tea cups.  
__________________

They almost broke the Tea Cups.

Because Lance and Keith thought it would be a good idea to see who could go faster…

Matt and Pidge just recorded it and laughed. Shiro scolded Keith, Adam just shook his head at his cousins' antics and threatened to tell his mother if he got in more trouble.

That got Lance to stop…

“I swear you two are married, you two are literally dads. Except Adam is the fun one”. Lance had said.

“Why, thank you, Lance”.

“Wait, what?!? How is Adam the fun one?!? I’m clearly the fun one!!”

“No you’re not”.

“Yes I am! I’m also very funny!” He tried to reason.

Everyone just stared at him, deadpanned.

“Why did the coffee go to the police??”

“Oh no, please don’t,” Lance and Keith begged.

“It got mugged”.

Everyone groaned.

“Why am I in love with you?” Adam questioned.

“I’m officially disowning you…”

“Keith you can’t do that. I’m your older brother”.

“I’m telling mom to disown you, she’ll understand”.

“Keith…no”.  
__________________

The group dispersed three or four hours later. It was late and everyone was tired. Lance and Keith rode all the rides and played as many games as they could before Shiro stepped in and took away their money. It was a tie, Lance won all the shooting/aiming games and Keith won all the other ones. Each person headed their own way, Keith and Shiro, Allura and Romelle, Pidge and Matt, Hunk and Shay, and Adam and Lance. Hunk had offered to walk Shay home, Allura and Romelle lived near each other and Adam and Lance were neighbors.

“Goodnight, Lance” Adam called out as he headed towards his house.

“Night’, Ad”. He replied and smirked when he heard Adam groan at the nickname.

He opened the door to his house and smiled when he saw his family sitting on the couch watching Disney Channel.

“Well look who finally came home. I thought I might have to call Keith and see where you were” Veronica started.

“Why Keith?”

“You’re always hanging out with him” She winked.

Lance, oblivious as he is, missed it and didn’t understand.

“Yeah, so? I always hang out with Hunk too. And Pidge, and Shiro, Allura-”

“Forget it,” She frowned, “Sooo, did you have fun?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Does there need to be a reason?”

“I’m tired, I’ll just go to bed then. Goodnight”.

“Goodnight”.  
_______________

Lance had changed into his blue shark pajamas and gotten ready to go to bed. He checked his Instagram, he really didn’t want to do a live stream right now. Oh… He got a new follower. He checked the username.

K-CoCain6_9

Ok…

The profile picture; a motorcycle. Private account.

Eh, I get new followers every day. What’s one more?

I’ll just pretend I’m busy… don’t feel like a live stream right now.

So, do you think your friends had fun? It was your idea after all...

Yeah. I think they did.

Maybe not with you.

What?

Oh, did you not see the eye-rolls? Or the tired groans whenever you opened your mouth? They had fun alright, but not with you.

They were joking…and it wasn’t every time I open my mouth.

That’s what you don’t see.

That’s not true...

Wow, you really are the dumb one, huh? Are you really that stupid? Do you really think anyone would want to hang out with you? Why do you think you are always the tenth wheel, huh?

I’m not the tenth wheel! They hang out with me! Keith does!

Keith does because there is no one else. You’re the last option. Like always.

No…

You know it’s true.

No.

You're useless.

Stop it.

Worthless…

Stop! Please!

Your just a burden to them. They don’t want to hang out with you. No one does. You’re all alone.

No... it’s not true...

We both know it is. Don’t lie to yourself. Look at you. Crying. Like the baby you are. Needing help with everything, huh? How pathetic...

Lance didn’t even know he was crying. His head stung… Oh.

He was hitting his head, pulling his hair. A waterfall of tears streaming down his face. He needed the voices to stop. They needed to stop!

He got up and went through his desk looking for what he knew was in there. And he grabbed it.

Oh? You’re going to hurt yourself? Yeah, sure, go ahead. Hurt yourself with the sharpest pencil you have. It’ll heal overnight. But you won’t.

He pressed the pencil to his skin and dragged it across. It stung, but it’ll heal overnight. No one will see the light spots that are still there. It’ll go away. He swore he would never use a razor. Can’t have evidence. He dragged the pencil across his skin multiple times until the voices left. His cheeks were wet, there were spots on his pants where his tears hit. He doesn’t have anymore tears left. The voices are gone. He slowed his breathing, put the pencil away. His heart still hurts. The stings in his arm are numb now. He still feels like crying, but there is nothing left. He goes and washes his face. Getting rid of the tear tracks and rubbing his eyes. They were pink, not red anymore. He grabbed the eye drops that take away the redness. He left the bathroom and crawled under his blanket. Exhaustion hitting him full force. He closed his eyes, sleep coming almost too slow…  
___________________

Keith kept checking his phone to see if the livestream would start.

Maybe he was busy?

He shrugged the best he could while lying on his side. He should probably get some rest…

He turned off his phone and put it to the side. It was 12:30 anyways.

Sleep did not come easily for him…  
__________________


	2. Chapter 2

“Lance! Leonardo, get up!”

“Ugh. No Mamá, five more minutes” Lance grumbled.

“Leonardo Lance McClain, get up this instant!” Upon hearing his full name instantly made him tense and he shot upright in his bed. Swinging his legs over the edge as the dark blue blanket fell over the side and onto the floor. His chestnut hair fell over his eyes and he probably had really bad bed head right now. But, at this moment, hearing his mother yelling his full name, everything else was at the back of his mind.

Oh god, what did I do now??

“I swear whatever happened, it wasn’t me. Probably Rachel’s fault.” His sister grumbled from the other side of the room, apparently awake.

His mother gave a disapproving look, “Stop trying to get your twin sister in trouble Lance. Either way, you weren’t listening to me so I had to do something”.

“So… I’m not in trouble right??”

“No Leonardo. I just needed to tell you something real quick”.

“And what did you have to tell me that included you yelling my full name and giving me a heart attack??”

His mother sighed and shook her head. “Lance, look I know it’s way too early for this, just don’t freak out ok?”

“You see now I’m freaking out”.

“Lance...your father… he’s coming to visit”.  
_________________

“Keith...why are you like this?”

“What do you mean Shiro?”

“Like...why do you do this?? Who does this?!?”

Keith looked down at his bowl that was filled with milk, he reached for the box of Honey Nut Cheerios and tilted his head in question. His adoptive parents left a little while ago to work and that left them two of them alone, eating breakfast at the round table fit for four in the kitchen.

“WHO PUTS THE MILK FIRST?!?”

“STOP JUDGING ME! I CAN DO WHAT I WANT!”

“BUT WHY???”

“I LIKE TO SEE THE CEREAL POP UP, OK?”

“...you are so weird”.

“STOP JUDGING ME!”  
_____________________

Lance wasn’t himself. That was all there was to say. Lance wasn't his normal self and Hunk noticed. He’s his best after all. He can tell when Lance isn’t doing so good.

I wonder what's wrong…

He would tell me if anything is up… Right?

Nope. Nevermind. He forgot he was talking about Lance here.

“Hey man what’s up? Did something happen?”

It's the second day of school and something was already wrong. Needless to say, he was worried out of his mind.

Lance jumped up, Hunk had obviously scared him out of his thoughts. The deep frown that was once on his face disappeared and the smile that always made Hunk uneasy popped up.

“Yeah? Why do you ask?”

Oh, I don't know… Maybe it's because you barely even said ‘hi’ to me and you've been quiet for what? Five minutes now?

“You seem upset”. He concluded.

“I'm fine, Hunk, no need to worry”. The obviously forced smile was still plastered on his face. It was quick, and Hunk barely noticed it but he caught it in time. Lance's lips twitching for 0.2 seconds.

Hunk didn't believe that one bit but let the subject drop for now.

“So how's Rachel? I didn't see her yesterday”. He said instead.

“She was sick. But she's here today”. Lance shrugged.

”Really? Whe-”.

“Sup baby bro?” Rachel, as if being summoned, came up and she hooked her arm around her brother's neck with a jump, causing him to trip forward.

Lance sighed and shook his head, “Rachel. We literally left the house together”.

“So… I can't see if your mood changed within the last 6 minutes?” She frowned and lifted a brow.

Lance just stared at her with a deadpan look and didn't answer.

She stuck her tongue at him and shoved his head with her hand.

“Why you little-” Lance tried to say before he was cut off.

“-Hunk, what's up? I haven't seen you in a while”.

“Good Rach. How are you? And what's wrong with Lance? He won't tell me”.

There it was again. Her smile faltered, but only for a bit. So, something was up with ALL the McClain's.

And he was going to find out.

“We’re good Hunk, don’t worry. Lance is just moody today”. Lance rolled his eyes at his twin and shook his head.

“You sur-”.

“-There you guys are! What took you so long?!” Allura exclaimed as she walked up to them.

“A-Allura! H-Hey”. Rachel sputtered, cheeks a light pink. Almost invisible.

“Rachel! Where were you yesterday? We missed you!” Allura said as she went up to hug Lance’s sister who’s cheeks got darker.

“I-I was sick… but I'm better now!” Rachel's voice was a bit more high-pitched than usual.

“That's good to hear,” She gave Rachel a smile that darkened her cheeks, “So what up?” Allura asked, giving an innocent smile.

The two started to talk, completely forgetting about the others.

Lance sighed, “They are so crushing on each other. Reminds me of you and Shay, Hunk”.

“Hey!”  
_______________________

“Keith…”

“Hmmm?”

“Is it just me, or is something wrong with Lance?” Pidge asked, both of them staring directly at the said boy.

“Nope. Not the only one”. Keith said as he narrowed his eyes at the boy as if that would allow him to see what he was hiding.

“Should we ask?” Pidge looked up at him and he could see the massive concern her amber eyes held.

“I-I don’t know… I’m not really the person to go to for comfort”. He looked back at Lance- the forced smile on his face… the way his eyes looked. He furrowed his brows and his frown deepened. He didn’t want Lance to look like this.

I want him to be happy.

I want to see his contagious and blinding smile.

“Should we ask him?”

“I don’t think he will be telling us the truth anytime soon, though”.

“You’re right. But then… what should we do?”

“I told you; I don’t know. Maybe we should ask Hunk what's up? He might know”.

“Yeah, probably, I’ll go get him”. She said as she turned into the direction of where Hunk was standing by Shiro. Rachel left a while ago, dragged away by her other friends. That is after Hunk gave her the peanut butter cookies he had saved for her and she kept on thanking him.

“Hunk come here for a second. I need help figuring out this formula real quick”. Pidge tugged on Hunks arm until he turned towards her.

“But you never need my help solving formulas. You’re always the one helping me”. Hunk tried to reason, confused he furrowed his brows.

“Yeah, but, I need your help. Now come on!”

“Fine! I’m coming, calm down”. He said as Pidge pulled him towards her open laptop where Keith was standing close by. Pidge sat down at her seat and pulled Hunk down, Keith walked over pretending to watch what they were doing.

“Hunk do you know what's wrong with Lance?” Pidge whispered once she sat down, and Keith almost didn’t hear her.

Hunk sighed and shook his head, “No. I tried to but he wouldn’t tell me anything”.

“We thought you would know”. Keith said almost to himself.

“This is Lance we are talking about. If anything is bothering him, he’ll do his best to take it to his grave. I did do my best to get it out of him, though”.

“Damn it”.

Suddenly, a tanned arm was wrapped around his shoulders and a familiar voice soon followed asking, “So, what are you guys up to?”

Keith, Hunk, and Pidge all jumped up with a collective shout that brought some attention from the people walking near by. Lance just lifted a brow, questioning their reaction.

“You guys good?”

“Umm, yeah. We’re good, good, how about you? You good?” Hunk said in a rush, attempting to save them.

It didn’t work.

“Okay”. Lance drew out the word, obviously skeptical. “What are you guys working on?”

“A new program-”

“An app that-”

“It’s a prototype really-”

“Just got started-”

“A model gen-”

“We really just got the basics down so-”

“Nothing really just-”

Lance looked at Keith who also seemed confused. When they made eye-contact Keith just shrugged with an indifferent look that showed that they both got nothing from Hunk and Pidges attempted explanations. Lance tilted his head slightly to the side with a furrow of his brow as if to see if Keith could give a better explanation.

“Don’t look at me. Do you really think I understand any of this crap?”

“Why you little piece of s-”

“PIDGE! KEITH! LANGUAGE!” Shiro yelled from the corner where he was standing talking to Allura and Adam.

I swear he has some ungodly level of dad senses.

“Suckle berries”. She ended.

“The fu-” Keith started.

“KEITH!” Shiro yelled again.

“-dge. The fudge.” Keith stared at Shiro challengingly.

“You’re on thin flipping ice young man”. Shiro narrowed his eyes at his brother. Adam let out a light laugh and Allura giggled.

“You get mad at us for using substitutes when you use them all the time. What the fudge Shiro?” Matt asked from next to Allura. Keith just realized he had missed him and Romelle, who was practically completely hidden behind Allura.

“Yeah, Shiro. What the flipping hell?” This came from Lance who had crossed his arms over his chest and had a smirk on his face that showed his bleach white teeth, eyes twinkling. His rare red-black striped shirt tightening just a bit to show evidence that he had probably spent the entire summer swimming.

Keith's heart skipped a beat.

Actually, that was an understatement.

It was freaking bouncing around his rib cage doing flips and jumping jacks. Its pace kept on quickening and his face a little warm.

Why does this keep on happening everytime I’m around him?!?

Stupid Lance. Stupid smile. Stupid ocean eyes. Stupid-

Something nudged his side and for a second he thought someone bumped into him and he turned to see who it was when he noticed it was Pidge and Hunk. A knowing look on their faces.

“What?” He asked, oblivious to literally everything.

Their knowing look morphed into disappointment, “Nothing” they both muttered Keith almost didn’t catch it. He only dropped the topic as well because he had a feeling he would end up getting embarrassed about it somehow.

Shiro just frowned at Matt and Lance. Turning away to stare at his still chuckling boyfriend.

“They do have a point, Takashi”. Adam said with a smile.

“You’re not supposed to agree with them, Adam. You’re supposed to be on my side”. His frown deepening.

“Whoever said that?” Adam snickered.

The bell rang.  
_______________________

Lance did not want to go home. He wanted to avoid it as much as possible today. He didn’t want to worry his mother though.

She's got enough on her shoulders. No need to add to the weight.

//Maybe if you died you would take a great deal of weight off her shoulders. Probably most of it, as you are a burden.//

Stop, please. Not now.

//Pathetic.//

Lance sighed, knowing there was probably a sad look in his eyes. This was only his second class of the day. Lunch was next and then two more 1 hour and 30-minute classes. Yeah, classes were hella long and annoying. But when you go to this school for three years now you kind of have to get used to it. Right now, Lance was in World History 2, with probably the best teacher in the entire school; Mr.Coran.

He had them reenact the story they hear and gave them a lot of group activities. Told them in the beginning of the school year he first had them that it will help them remember better. It did. Lance was lucky to have Mr.Coran as his teacher three years in a row now. To include the fact that he was Allura’s uncle that they saw quite often. Mr.Coran had become more of a missing father figure. But today he was anxious.

30 more minutes. That’s all.

Those 30 minutes passed by fast, faster than Lance would have wanted. At the sound of the bell, everyone got up and left to the door in a rush, all heading to lunch.

“McClain! Come here for a second”. The teacher called out.

Damn it.

He had been wishing he went unnoticed today. He headed over to Mr.Corans desk, “Sir?”

“You know you could just call me Coran”. He said with a small smile.

“Right”. Lance nodded.

“Did something happen? You seemed down today, lad”. Concern laced his eyes and his furrowed brows. Smile dropping as he searched the boys face as if that would give an answer.

//Wow. You even need the teachers to start worrying about you. Haven’t you placed enough burden on other people already? Are you really that pathetic to need everyone's attention? Selfish. That’s what you are. You just got to waste everyone’s time, huh?//

“No, just a bit tired”. He gave the best smile he could muster up at the moment.

“You sure, lad? You know you can talk to me if you need to”. Coran said still searching his face for any kind of information searching one’s face can give.

//Don’t be stupid. He’s just being nice. Who would want to be burdened with your pathetic rambling? No one cares about you. Get used to that.//

“I know and don’t worry, nothings wrong”. He had become accustomed to giving a fake smile with every lie that he told.  
_______________________

“Sup, losers?” Rachel asked, walking up to her and Lances shared friends.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be, like I don’t know, with your friends?” Lance replied glaring playfully at his sister as she plopped down next to him.

“Hey, these are my friends too!” She exclaimed with the same playful tone as she pointed to the rest of the group, smiling.

“Hey, Rachels welcomed here at any time, maybe even dinner?” Matt winked at her.

“Matt. You are not allowed to flirt with my sisters. Or I swear you’ll be dead”. Lance threatened, tone turning serious so quickly Rachel and the others eyes widened. His glare is no longer playful. He never joked around with family, Rachel knew this, after all, that's just how their family was.

Matt cursed and Shiro, who was next to him, smacked the backside of his head.

Pidge rolled her eyes at her brother, “I thought you were smarter than this, Matt. When Shiro and Adam got together he gave Shiro a death sentence if he ever hurt Adam”.

“I actually felt threatened too, by the way. Adam is his cousin, imagine what he will do when you mess with his siblings”. Shiro added.

“Damn, ok. I feel bad whoever dates your siblings”. Keith said amused.

“Yeah, but it’s not just Lance. Their whole family is overprotective of one another”. Hunk smiled while grabbing some snacks from his lunchbox.

Lance huffed out a breath, “We are right here guys”. He reminded his friends.

“Oh hey Lance! Rachel you’re here too?!” Romelle exclaimed as she sat down next to Keith, Allura in tow.

“Hey Lance, Rachel,” Allura sat next to Romelle with her tray of food, “how are you guys? Anyone got plans tonight?” Looking around the table.

“Yeah” Lance and Rachel said at the same time.

“Oh really? Both of you? What’s going on that includes you two?” Allura asked, intrigued.

The twins looked at each other, “Oh… it’s just… family matter”. Rachel concluded, hoping that they won’t push. She noticed Adam giving her a look she couldn’t decipher, wondering if he knew or not.

“Why, is everything alright?” Shiro questioned, his brows furrowed.

“Yeah… everything's fine”. I hope, was unspoken from Lance. But his sister caught it as it was about to leave his tongue before he stopped himself. The only reason she caught it, was because she was thinking the same thing. Not only is she concerned with her father coming to visit, but as well as her twin brother. Last night he excused himself rather quickly, she was worried. She could tell something was wrong. Her niece, though, distracted her and before she knew it Lance was already upstairs, had been for half an hour. When she was able to excuse herself and go check on her brother in their shared bedroom, he was already asleep. She wasn’t able to question him later with the commotion of this morning.

“You guys sure?” This came from Romelle and Hunk.

They both nodded. Lance, thankfully, changed the topic, “Hey, Pigeon. So, I was curious. What is that project you’re always working on?”

Everyone soon turned towards Pidge who brightened up and began her talk. Lunch went as it normally did each day. Although, one thought kept her alert; the fact that Lance was really good at changing the topic and letting everyone forget what they were ever talking about. It scared Rachel to no end.  
_______________________

“Hey, Lance, wait up!” Keith called out. Running towards his best friend with a jump in his step, not literally, but he was excited. To say the least. It was the end of the day and everyone was either going to their cars, pickups, or buses. “Lance!” He called out one last time, this caught the said boy’s attention as he turned around to glance at Keith.

“Keith? What’s wrong? Did Shiro say we could-”

Keith’s smile disappeared, “No, not yet. But…”, he pulled out a sheet Pidge printed out as a bright smile took over again, “this is good. So, we are making a club and well, everyone is joining. We are calling it the ‘Voltron Coalition’. It’ll be fun, and-” Keith was about to start rambling about the club that their friend group had planned to do years ago.

Lances eyes brightened up, “No way!” He took the sheet out of Keiths hands and started reading it quickly, “Dude!”

“Yeah, but we need at least 100 people, so can you ask Rachel and her friends if they would be interested in joining?”

“Yeah man, of course! Rachel’s going to join whether she likes it or not”. Lance chuckled. Smile so big that the corner of his eyes crinkled a little.

Keith shook his head.

Why does he have to be so cu-

Keith stopped that thought immediately. The bell rang overhead, signaling the buses were about to leave.

“Shoot! I gotta go, man. I’ll talk to you later, kay?”

“Yeah, sure man go, before you miss your bus”.

“Okay, Bye”. Lance said with a wave of his hand.

“See ya later man”. Keith returned the wave. Lance turned and ran out the doors, turning left to where Keith assumed where his bus was parked.

Well, shit.  
___________________

Neither Lance nor Rachel were looking forward to coming home. Lance was pretty sure this was one of the only times he’d much rather stay at school. The fact that he would prefer to sit through Iverson's class than ending up in the same place as his father says a lot. Or rather, the much better term for him, the stranger who broke his Mama’s heart.  
_______________________

\------------Flashback------------  
Lance sat there. His smaller form curled up into a ball against his closed bedroom door. His twin sister hugging him, her head buried in his neck as she wept and shook. He tried to cover his ears to block out the shouting coming from downstairs. Tears of his own staining his cheeks and rolling down his chin. Their quiet sobbing was almost unheard as the shouting increased.

When his parents are fighting, everyone heads to their own rooms. No one wanted to hear their arguing. His older siblings didn’t seem to shed a tear at the commotion anymore. That wasn’t the same for six-year-old Lance and Rachel. They weren’t used to it like the others, though it did happen often. Luis was 15 at the time, he was the most indifferent. He didn’t even flinch anymore. Veronica was 12, and Marco who was 9 still seemed to wince and jump a bit every time an argument started. Though they never said a word.

At that time, Isabelle was only 3 and their mother had just given birth to baby Benjamin. Their parents never seemed to get along. Never. Their ‘father’, if you can call him that, was basically never around. Never did anything to make them feel as though he was their father, other than a stranger who sat in their home. Not seeming to care at all. Lance barely knew anything about him, nor did he care to try. He kept yelling at his mother and helped her none. He just wanted him to stop and leaver her alo-

SLAM

Lance and Rachel jumped up and looked at each other. The front door opened again but there was not another slam. The yelling continued, this time though, it was heard outside. Lance and his sister scrambled to their window and saw their parents who continued to argue. Their father shouted one final insult to his mother, the whole argument in Spanish but Lance still understood somewhat, and turned around and entered the car. Driving off.

Silence.

What was once wanted now deafening. At the very least there was no more arguing. His mother went back inside, the opening and closing of the door was heard loud and clear in the newfound silence that was brought. Their mother didn’t deserve this. She deserved so much better than what she ended up with. She deserved the world. Lance and his sister went and opened the door in a silent agreement to go comfort their hurt, Mama. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they saw their mother there, sitting on the couch. Crying so quietly he probably wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the sniffles that came every so often.

“Mama?” Lance asked. His voice was shaky and vulnerable.

“Do you need cuddles and kisses to make it better, Mama?” Rachel questioned with a frown.

“Oh dios mío, did we keep you guys up?” Their Mama looked up with guilt woven into her features, her eyes red and body trembling. She was obviously trying to hide it so as to not worry her children.

“Mama, do you need cuddles and kisses?” Lance repeated Rachels question as well as ignoring his mother.

“Oh, Lance. Both of you come here”. His mother gave a tired smile and huffed out a laugh when both Rachel and Lance came running into her arms. They talked, or more like Lance and Rachel trying to talk over each other while their mother chuckled. The three of them fell asleep like that. Curled up together on the couch with the blanket their mother pulled over them before closing her eyes. In the morning they were woken up with their older siblings around them. Veronica had woken up first and took a picture of the three. Their eyes were red and puffy from crying the night before.

According to their mother, they got divorced afterward. There was not even a fight for custody at all. Not even an agreement for visits.

That night was the last time he and his siblings saw their father.

Lance didn’t give a damn. In fact, he preferred it that way.  
\-------------------  
_________________

Lance’s mother never married or dated after that. Her main goal then was raising her children right. Luis applied for jobs to help their mother pay the bills and taxes. Soon Veronica and Marco followed. Lance and Rachel soon after, having multiple jobs to help with everything since their older siblings were paying for college and Luis was paying for his own family. The McClains were better than they had been all those years ago. Those… ten years. That’s how long it’s been.

It hadn’t felt like ten years.

Lance stared out the window of the bus in an attempt to distract himself. He watches as the surroundings rolled past, only ever slowing to a stop every so often. He didn’t need his father, no matter how much he longed for a proper one. One that cared and didn’t leave them in the dust as he had. He knew that he wasn’t the only one, all his siblings longed for that.

//You’re not the only one that is hurting, you know? Stop being so selfish and thinking that everything is about you.//

Lance bit the inside of his cheek to hold his emotions in. Today, they were bad. His thoughts are worse than yesterday. He needed to contain himself before he gave too much away, he’d been slipping up a lot lately. He couldn’t burden the others more than he had already. He- Rachel nudged his side, and when he looked up he realized they were at their stop. Dread filled his stomach as he got up with his bag and him and his sister got off the bus. They watched it go as they had already started their walk home.

He looked up at his sister to find that she had been watching him. She offered a tired smile and Lance did his best to return it. “Hey, you okay?” She asked, visibly worried for his well being.

“Yeah, just… I don’t know. It’s been ten years Rachel. And before that? Did he really ever show that he cared for us? Mama? All he did was yell at us. And now, ten years later, he decides to visit?”

“I… You’re right. But Leonardo… is there something else bothering you? You’ve been down lately.”

//Don’t burden her. She has enough crap to deal with. You know this right? No one should have to deal with your own trash. You, yourself, are a big enough burden.//

“Nothing's bothering me. Don’t worry about it. How about you? Are you feeling better?” Lance questioned.

Rachel looked unwilling to just drop it and took her a minute until she answered Lance, “I’m better”.

That’s what they did during their five-minute walk from the bus stop, to their home. Talking, complaining about their schedule and joking around. Sooner than either of them would have wanted to, they came to their driveway and noticed an unfamiliar black Jeep parked there. They looked at each other, Lance having believed in twin telepathy at a young age, as both took a deep breath and fell into step as they went up the stairs. Lance grabbed the keys from his backpack and unlocked the door.

Now or never  
___________________

“Shiro…” Keith said as he shook his head at his brother.

“What?” His brother asked, curious as to what Keith meant this time.

“Please, turn it off. I’m literally begging you”. Keith covered his ears in an attempt to block out probably the cheesiest song ever written.

“What? What’s wrong with Stayin Alive?” His brother lifted a brow.

“Shiro. Turn the damn music off and hand me the aux cord. Now”. Pidge demanded, she outstretched her hand to the front seats where Matt was sitting in the passenger seat with Pidge and Keith in the back.

“What’s wrong with this song?” Shiro questioned again.

“Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s the fact that you won’t stop singing at the top of your lungs!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Please, just have mercy on my soul and turn it off.” Keith begged again.

“Shiro, just give it to me”. Matt said, looking over at his best friend.

“OH, HELL NO! MATT HAS THE WORST MUSIC TASTE! DO. NOT. GIVE IT TO HIM!”

“GO TO HELL PIDGE!”

And with that, the Holts started arguing again.

“Hey! HEY! SHUT IT!” Shiro yelled to get them to stop… it did. It always did.

Keith snickered, “Dad”. He mumbled. He heard the Holt siblings chuckle.

“STOP SAYING THAT!”  
___________________

When Rachel and Lance walked in, the house was dead quiet. Just like it had been right when he left. They go to put their backpacks at the dining table, or more like the homework table before and after lunch. They shared a look and walked towards the living room where the family sat. The tension thick, that might have needed a sledge hammer to break. When they walked in, There he was. The person they hadn’t seen in ten years. The one who broke their mothers heart and affected their whole lives even though he did nothing in them but yell.

“Leonardo, Rachel. It’s been a while”. Their father said with a bright smile as if the past was nothing to him.

The dam cracked.


	3. Chapter 3

Keith sat on the edge of the bed. Knees pulled up and hugged tightly to his chest by his pale arms, head resting on the top of his knees. His dark grey shorts riding up his legs, revealing his pale thighs. The shirt he wore was black with a white V stretched across his chest, another thing he stole from his brother. No one was home at the moment; his brother on another date with Adam and his parents still at work. They had dropped Pidge and Matt at their home an hour or two ago- maybe even three- then when they got home, Shiro received a text from Adam of when he was coming. Shiro, having completely forgotten about the date he planned with Adam, ran to get dressed as if the devil himself was running after him. 

“Pfft-”. Keith burst out laughing at his brother as he frantically tried to find a non-wrinkly shirt he could wear.

“Keith! Help me over here!” Shiro shouted as he took out a faded green sweater and revealed the crumpled fabric. He threw it behind him into the ever-growing pile in the middle of his room.

Keith at this point had already clutched his stomach as it started to ache and doubled over, shaking. Shiro had been doing this for a full 9 minutes now. What caused Keith's uncontrollable laughter you may ask? The fact that Shiro just pulled out an old Halloween costume from eight years ago that he lost as a kid. 9-year-old Shiro almost cried when he realized his favorite costume was missing and their parents had gone to get another one.

“Keith” Shiro whined, and you would think a guy like him wouldn’t be capable of whining.

He had finally calmed down and huffed out a tiny laugh. He shook his head and looked back up at his brother who was still trying to find something. “Shiro… you know for a fact that Adam won’t mind”.

“IT’S OUR ANNIVERSARY!!”

“Oh… well, then good luck!” Keith said walking out of the room.

“KEITH!” Shiro called out, his voice in a panic.

He ended up 15 minutes late. Adam, somehow, had a fond, loving, smile as Shiro had walked out in the first sweater Adam had bought for him- which was slightly wrinkled and had a small stain.

Keith will never understand love. 

He had watched as Adam drove out of the driveway and onto the street after sharing a small kiss with his boyfriend.

Que to how Keith ended up sitting on the bed, waiting for someone to return home. Without Shiro or his parents, the house felt empty… lonely. Keith got up and started pacing around the room. Keith had grown to hate the quiet, after living with Shiro and his parents, as well as meeting the gang, being alone had become a rarity. He was always hanging out with someone. Being all by himself had always reminded him of the orphanage.

His parents had both died when he was young, after that he had no relatives to take care of him. The kids at the orphanage had always left him standing on the sidelines, deciding that he was some weirdo that apparently should not be approached. Then, being alone had become something natural, something he had enjoyed… until he met Shiro, and god has he changed.

\------flashback----------

Keith had his back against the dying tree. Knees pulled to his chest as he hugged himself. He sat there and watched as the kids played together. Passing the ball to one another in a game of soccer. His pout grew and he huddled closer into himself , his choppy black hair falling over his face. He looked down at his shoes, untied and becoming worn out. His jeans had rips in them and his red jacket too big for his small form. A cold wind passed and he shivered, the tree above rattled as decaying leaves fell to the cold ground. He just wishes that he still had his father, to see him one last time. To meet his mother, the one who his father had never stopped talking about so fondly, lovingly. He was always told that he was just like her-

“Hey, do you want to play ‘Hero’ with me?” A voice startled him from his thoughts. His head snapped upwards so fast that a pain shot through his neck. He winced and brought a hand up to rub the spot, he glared at the boy in front of him.

“Are you alright?” The boy asked, concerned. Keith couldn’t understand why.

“What do you want?” He grumbled in response.

The boy smiled, his tuff of black hair covering his eyes a bit. Though, not long enough to actually cover them completely. He was wearing a grey vest that actually fit him unlike Keith and his black turtleneck underneath. Grey eyes curious and his head slightly tilted to the side, “I want you to stop sitting all by yourself and come play with me”.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because it’s not fun being alone.”

Keith scoffed, “Why do you care?”

The boy smiled and stuck out his hand, “My name is Takashi Shirogane, but you can just call me Shiro.”

Keith looked at the outstretched hand then traced it back to the boy- Shiro’s face. His eyes grey and shining, a wind blew past again. Shaking the leaves and causing Keith and Shiro to shiver slightly. But the hand stayed where it was, clearly unmoving until he accepted it. He hesitated, but slowly he reached out and shook it. The smile on Shiro’s face turned to a grin, showing his white teeth. He wondered how someone would ever be happy in meeting him, because as harsh as it is; no one has ever cared or much less liked him.

“Sooo… what’s your name?” Shiro asked as Keith got up to stand.

He stared at the boy in front of him, “Why do you care about me?” He was honestly curious as to why Shiro would waste his time on someone like him. Most avoided Keith as much as possible, parents that came to the orphanage took one look at him and disliked him immediately. There were parents who talked to him, but those were rare cases and after that, they moved on to the next child. Keith was unwanted.

“What do you mean?” Shiro questioned with a frown.

“Why are you being nice to me?”

The boy’s frown deepened, “I don’t know who put that idea in your head but… I’m not them. Trust me”.

The hesitation of actually trusting the grey-eyed boy was still there. He may be there just to make him look like a fool, show him that no niceties towards him are without harm. Although he didn’t quite trust him just yet, he decided to follow Shiro.

“My names’ Keith”.

\--------------------

___________________

The pale boy smiled at the distant memory, one that changed his entire life, switched it in the right direction. Keith fiddled with the ends of his shorts- pulling on a loose strand making it longer. He got off of his bed and walked towards the window, making sure he had the keys and his phone in case as he slid the window open. He was greeted by the mini woods in his backyard, he threw his left leg outside as cool air surrounded it. He threw his other leg and carefully climbed out of his window. He went upwards to the slanted rooftop, as he got comfortable laying on the tiles.

He stared up at the baby blue sky, at the fluffy clouds rolling past. Some clouds shaped like cotton candy and some shaped almost like ships. He was in a trance, watching as the clouds moved quickly across the sky by the wind, only broken to the vibrations and ringing of his phone in his pocket. His brows furrowed, as he pulled out the device.

Is it mom and dad? I highly doubt it would be Shiro…

Keith looked at the caller ID…

Unknown number?

Keith spoke, “Hello?”

The voice Keith least expected answered.

“K-Keith…c-can you come get me?” The voice stuttered, sounds of slight panting coming through the line- as if he had been running.

Keith’s eyes widened, he started to slide down the roof slowly. The only thing that could come out of his mouth, the only thing on his mind at the moment actually.

“...Lance...?”

_________________

3 hours ago

\--------------------

I need to get out of here.

I need to get out.

NOW.

His father stood, took only three strides to reach him. Realizing the small distance between them now, his father stopped short a foot or two away. Though to Lance, it was too close…

I need to leave.

He’s too close!

I have to get away from here!

Tears welled in his eyes, so much so that they threatened to fall. Lance willed them not to, did his best to stay strong in the face of the man who hurt them.

//Can’t even keep these pathetic tears from gathering.//

Please not now…

“S-stay a-away from me” He stuttered. Lance looked over to his twin who was standing frozen, tears already cascading down her face. His eyes snapped back to his father. His voice harsh and unforgiving, “What are you doing here?”

Dark brown eyes somehow become even darker, his features changed from friendly to threatening in a heartbeat. His voice was hard and bitter when he spoke, “Did your mother raise you so poorly as to teach you no manners?”

He looked over to his mother, noticing Isabelle and Benjamin sitting near her. Each on their own side as they held onto her, confused.

“Mama? Who is this man?” Isabelle asked, clutching to their mother's arm.

“I don’t like him…” Benjamin muttered quietly.

“Oh? You didn’t tell them about me?” Their father sneered, turning away from Lance and Rachel.

“Why would she?!” Rachel snapped, finally done with being quite, “You hurt her! You were cruel to not only her but us as well!”

His mother winced and looked back at her youngest children. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, preparing herself for what’s to come. She opened her eyes, “This… this is your father…”

“What?!” Izy said, taken aback. She looked over at the man who’s been nothing but a jerk to their mother. Lance could practically read her thoughts. The questions on how this man could possibly ever be their missing father. While Benji’s eyes just widened, mouth agape, as he took in the information.

He looked back at his father and his thoughts were racing. 

Why is he here?

What does he want?

Why can’t we just live a life without him?

“What do you want Howard?” Lance spoke up, Stay strong. You need to stay strong.

//You’re nothing but weak.//

Howard turned, “You have absolutely no respect for your elders, do you boy?” His father sneered, anger shown by the way his eyes narrowed and the way his eyebrows drew together.

“Maybe you should leave, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I don’t want to see the asshole that is my father near our family” Lance all but growled back.

SLAP

The room went dead silent. Lance blinked, white blocking his vision from the strength, cheek burning as a few tears escaped his eyes. His father reached over to his right ear, grabbing it and tugging it down.

“Listen to me boy, I will not tolerate this behavior from you again, got that? Say something like that one more time and you’ll see”.

He let go and Lance's hand immediately went up to caress his angry red cheek. He looked over at his mother's shocked expression, face pale and tears that should never be there rolled down to her chin. His other hand went up to wipe the stranded drops away shaking his head towards his mother, silently telling her not to engage.

Like she would listen.

Rosa- his mother- stood tall, though her short height, “Tell me what you want Howard or leave my house this instant”.

Howard smirked over to her, turning completely from Lance. Rachel rushed to his side, “Are you alright?” She whispered quietly in his ear. He only nodded in response, eyes kept on his father.

Howard pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to their mother. She stared up at him, “¿Que es esta?”

He only tilted his head towards the paper, smirk still plastered on his face as he didn’t bother answering her questions. She hesitated, but slowly unfolded the paper in her hands. Her expression said everything as she gave a small gasp, her face tense with her brows drawn in as she bit down on her lower lip. Her light brown hair that had small bits of silver from stress was over her shoulders, bouncing lightly as she started to shake.

“Mamá? Are you okay?” Izy grabbed Rosa’s elbow, tugging it slightly to gain her attention- but it didn’t work.

“I expect to see you there” Howard turned towards the door, walked out- shutting it roughly. A minute or two later a car engine turning on was heard, then the soft rumble of the vehicle faded as he got further away. Only then did Lance and Rachel approach their mother.

“Lancey? What's wrong with mamá? Was that really papá?” Benji questioned, the boy overwhelmed with what was currently happening.

“Mamá?” Lance and Rachel asked.

She looked up at them, “They want me to go to court”.

The twins looked at each other, “What for?”

“Your father- he wants custody over you guys”.

Their eyes were blown wide, mouths falling agape, “Wait, what?!” Rachel screeched.

“I thought he didn’t want anything to do with us!” Lance yelled, outraged.

“That's what he told me- told the court” His mother sighed.

“Can he still take custody of us? After all these years?”

“Yes, though I doubt they’ll allow him full custody… probably visits, but custody? I don’t think they would…”

What are we going to do? I wasn’t able to even handle this visit-- How in the world would I be able to handle more and or custody?!

I can’t do this...

I can’t!

“Lance?”

The boy jumped, taken out of his thoughts.

“Y-yeah?”

“Are you all right?” Rachel asks though she knows the answer- it’s not like she’s okay either. Lance knows this.

“Yeah, yeah I’m just a bit shaken is all” Lance answered. They all knew the lie, it went unsaid.

I’m not even close to fine…

//Maybe you haven’t realized it yet but you’re not special. They’re hurting too so stop being so selfish and try to do something for once.//

Though you’ll probably end up making it worse…

//Like always.//

Lance bit his lower lip, he knows he shouldn’t listen to the negative thoughts swirling around in his head- but he doesn’t have the strength to fight them at this moment. So he accepts it, and the thoughts grow, taking over everything in his mind.

“Mamá, maybe you should go and rest- you’ll need it. I’ll take Izy and Benji to their room- Rachel, stay with mamá, okay?” His sister nodded and took their mother up the stairs, while Lance looked over at his younger siblings. He took their hands, one in each, and went up the stairs. They remained quiet, allowing themselves to be led to their bedroom without question. When they reached the second floor he turned left, away from his room as well as his mothers.

Veronica and Marco still had their room- untouched in case they needed somewhere to stay. Luis was the only one who had his own room being the oldest, it was turned to the guest room even though it was upstairs with the rest. There was only one bathroom on that floor beside the one in his mother's room. The off-white hallway had pictures of them- when they were younger; their family picture being the biggest, that hung on the wall in front of the staircase. It was taken last year- everyone was in it. Luis with his wife Sophia and their two kids; Estrella who was the oldest and four at the time with her younger brother Mateo who was three were carried by their parents. Veronica stood to their right and Mamá to their left, Lance and Rachel leaned against each other back to back- on the edge of the picture with matching grins. Marco was kneeling up front, in the middle, making peace signs. Isabelle was on his right as Benjamin was on his left. 

They were all happy, goofing off in the other pictures that were taken. A more formal one hanging in their living room. Lance loved all the pictures taken that sat on the walls of their home- no matter how much his sisters complained about how they looked in them.

When Lance got to the room he opened the door to find his siblings room an utter disaster. His jaw dropped as he took in the once neat yellow room. The beds were stripped bare of the sheets with old toys replacing them, blankets were thrown on the floor with clothing unknown to what was clean and what wasn’t. The closet was open wide with previously folded attire flowing out.

Lance just gaped while unintelligible noises came from the back of his throat. Mouth opening and closing like a fish, “Wha-WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO???”

They avoided his gaze at all costs, choosing to look at their feet or the wall, “We got bored?” Isabelle said, chewing on her bottom lip.

“SO YOU DID THIS?!”

“We’re sorry…” They said in illusion, looking up at him with doll eyes.

Shit.

Lance tried to resist the urge to forgive them- to not melt over their absolutely adorable faces. He gave up trying to resist and sighed. Those damn doll eyes…

“I want you guys to clean this up, okay? I’ll help you”.

They cheered and ran to clean, Lance just shook his head and went to help. They ended up cleaning the whole room in under thirty minutes- a record mind you- and got them to read. Through their complaints and whines Lance was able to get them to choose a book of the mini shelf in their room. 

“Lance where are you going?” Izy asked when she noticed her older brother making his way to the door. Benji looked up and tilted his head, eyes filled with confusion.

“I’m going out for some fresh air,” This time it wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, okay don’t stay out for too long or you’ll panic Mamá.” Izy stated, and of course, Lance knew this. It’s happened before…

//They’re telling you not to burden your mother more. Even your younger siblings have to make sure you don’t mess up again.//

I WON’T mess up again, I’ll make sure of it. She’s already got a lot on her plate.

“Don’t worry, I won’t stay out after curfew again”.

“Bye Lancey Lance,” His sibling called out as he exited the room.

The boy walked out, closing the door behind him as he made his way to the other end of the hall. When he arrived at his mother's door, he knocked twice then waited. He heard footsteps and soon the nob was turning and the door opened slightly, revealing his sister.

“Hey, Lancey…” She smiled softly at him, Lance returned it with the same sadness hidden in his eyes.

“I wanted to see mamá,” Rachel nodded and opened the door to let him in.

“Hey, mamá. How are you feeling?” Lance sat next to her on the bed, forearms resting on his thighs with clasped hands. He hung his head slightly, tilting it to the right as he looked over to his mother who had her hands on each side of her head.

Massaging her temples she sighed, “I’m just really stressed right now, hijo”. She smiled sadly when Lance reached out and started rubbing small circles onto her back.

“Well, that's why you should get some rest, I could call Veronica and Marco to come from campus to help you out. It’s been a while since they last visited anyways…”

Rachel sat down on the other side of their mother. She reached out and laid her hand on their mother's shoulder, smiling softly, “You know you can rely on us, just because you're our mom, doesn't mean you have to carry your burden alone… you know we’ll always be there for you. Just like how you’ve repeatedly been there for us”.

Rosa suddenly inhaled sharply, then next thing Lance knew she was pulling them both into a tight hug, “Oh my hijos, I love you both so much..”

Lance smiled and returned the hug, his twin replicating his actions on the other side, “We love you too..” they said in unison.

They stayed that way for what seemed like hours but was actually a few minutes. And Lance could stay like that forever, but the tension was building inside of him and he needed to release it. He needed to be outside the house, to take out all his energy, all the anxiety, the stress, everything. Lance slowly broke away, retracting his arms back to the confines of his body, leaving him cold after retreating from the warmth he had. The two looked at him in confusion, he offered a small smile in return.

“Lance are you alright?” His twin asked.

No.

I’m nowhere close to alright …

“Yeah, I’m fine don’t worry,” he replied, “I just need some fresh air. I’m going to take a ride on my bike”.

“Okay, please stay safe. I don’t want to see you hurt again, after what happened last time…” His mother said in a small voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t stay after curfew this time mamá”.

“You know that’s not what I meant”.

Lance's smile flattered but he regained composure, “I promise I’ll stay careful and avoid alleyways”.

“Okay go, but you better keep your promise hijo” His mother gave one last hug, tightening before letting go.

“Don’t worry I will,” he reassured, “take care of mamá while I’m gone. And please, don’t set the house on fire again”.

“Just worry about yourself, Lancey Lance. Also, that was just one time!” Rachel hissed, and her brother just rolled his eyes and walked out.

Once he was by himself, he let out a sigh, tears gathering up quickly and threatening to fall. He rushed down the stairs, as silently as he could and made it to the garage. He went for his bike, a dark blue mixed with bits of red- creating bits of purple. He got on, completely forgetting about his helmet, and paddled away. Time pacing at the speed of light; seconds turned to minutes, those minutes turning to an hour...

I have to get away...

I need to go faster!

I need to escape!

Thoughts raced and swirled in his mind. Lance was completely unaware of his surroundings; of the people passing by on a stroll, the cars that went right by him bringing a gust of air into his eyes. The tears have frozen from all the air rushing into his eyes, instead of drying they blurred his vision even more. Causing him to become completely blind to all that's around him. His bike swerves out of his panic- and suddenly he falls.

He falls and falls, rolls in what can only be dirt. He feels some rocks, jagged and big, being pushed in his skin. There's a burning sensation he can feel all over his body, and a dizziness in his head. So abruptly he went numb, he almost didn’t realize it, but he had lost all feeling in his limbs- in his body. A sort of darkness took over his vision, leaving him unable to process one coherent thought. Soon the darkness became black spots as his eyesight slowly returned, the dizziness he had felt had become a nagging headache. He groaned and moved up on his elbows to sit up, it stung and he didn’t realize why until he looked down.

They were bleeding, the blood oozing out swiftly. He looked at the rest of his body, his redshirt he had worn today had torn and he could see the red that gushed out of his cuts. His back burned and he realized that his shirt wasn’t his only problem. His pants had torn as well, he was covered in dirt and was pretty sure that the back side of his shirt didn’t really exist anymore. He felt something dripping down his face- thick in substance. His hair felt damp and was sure he at least had a small concussion.

I should probably get up.

And so he did, and it felt like hell from his once numb legs. He hissed in pain- panting slightly as the pain coursed through him. The wave hitting him so hard he stumbled on his legs, feeling as though his legs were set on fire. He looked around for his bike, finding it bent lightly, one of the tires having popped and scratches covered almost every inch of his bicycle- much like his body. He went over and bent down to grab it, grunting once another wave of pain hit him.

His face twitched as the pain settled and he looked around again, paying more attention to his surroundings.

He was in a ditch.

Lance cursed to his heart's content, his current situation making him forget his father, but instead all he could think about was his mother.

“Mierda...Mamá is going to kill me…”

Then he remembered his phone.

Mierda Mierda Mierda

His hands searched his pockets and found it in one. When he looked over the screen, it had cracks and scratches everywhere but it was nothing Hunk or Pidge couldn’t fix. Oh, the wonders on how phones never really break in situations like these...

He sighed in relief, but when he tried to turn it on he found it was dead. His face immediately turned into a scowl- just mY FREAKING LUCK!!

He looked up and started to make his way towards where he fell. Limping the whole way as he could barely walk, dragging his bike along behind him. When he made it to the slope, he started to climb his way back up the ditch, using the rocks that had pierced his skin as leverage. Groaning and grunting with every new wave of pain that hit him as he climbed up, the burning sensation only increased.

When he made it to the top, his breathing was hard to regain, hard to go back to somewhat normal. As he did his best to slow his rapidly beating heart, he took a look around. Noticing how he barely recognized the place he had found himself in.

Just great. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! FIRST I FALL INTO A DITCH AND THEN I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE HELL I AM. THAT'S FREAKING WONDERFUL!

Okay, breathe. Take deep breaths. Panicking won’t do you any good. Calm down...

He did his best to listen to the rational side of his mind- tried to calm himself down, but he just couldn't help it. He didn’t know where he was, at least not well enough to navigate, and he was bruised. Injured to an extent, an extent he didn’t know how far. He gulped and looked to the left. It wasn’t like he was in the middle of nowhere, he just didn’t recognize the place very well that was actually caused by his injured head. He walked back the way he came- the limp only becoming worse as he put pressure on it.

Sooner than he realized he made it to where most of the population was, there were few people on the sidewalk and he knew he was attracting their attention. He raised a slightly bloodied hand to rub at his temples, trying to relieve so of the pulsing and throbbing going on inside his head.

“Hey dude, are you okay? Do you want me to call an ambulance?” A voice called out.

Lance snapped his head up in panic, “No- no please don’t call an ambulance, don’t worry it’s not THAT bad”.

The man raised a brow, “Are you sure, man? There isn’t anything I could help you with?”

“I- uh... If you actually don’t mind, is it okay if I use your phone for a sec? I just need to call a friend…” He trailed off, feeling uncertain for some reason.

The man nodded and took out his phone, opening it up and handed it to him. Lance thanked the guy and typed in the first number that he thought of.

Keith.

Lance waited as it rang, tapping his foot before he stopped as it had brought on more pain. He looked up at the guys who gave him his phone. He had dark skin, a serious looking face that had full lips. His hair was an undercut with some black bundles flowing over, his eyes grey that seemed to have a hint of honey under thick eyebrows.

Finally, the ringing stopped and his voice rang through, “Hello?”

“K-Keith…c-can you come get me, please?”

“...Lance...?”

“Yeah, it's me”.

“Wait, Lance, who’s phone is this? And why do you want me to pick you up? Where are you? What happened?!” The sound of running and doors opening and closing sounded through the speaker.

“Keith, if you're busy I can call someone else-”

“NO-no I’m coming okay? Where are you?” 

“Um…” He looked over at the guy and opened his mouth to ask.

“Oh, Arus Avenue,” The man said.

Oh, I know Arus...

“I’m on Arus Avenue..” Lance told Keith who had been silent.

“Arus? What are you doing all the way there?”

“I-uh… I’ll explain later”.

“Fine, I’m on my way. See you soon”.

“Yeah, see you” Lance hung up. Looked over at the guy and handed him his phone back, “Thank you…” He looked at the guy questioning.

“Right,” He took his phone back, “Kinkade, Ryan Kinkade. Although, people just call me Kinkade”.

“Okay, Kinkade. Thanks again, names Lance”.

They shook hands and Kinkade left. Saying that he had to be home before his parents worried. Lance apologized but Kinkade told him not to. Sooner than Lance would like, he was alone again. Waiting on the streets with his broken bike. The thoughts and memories he wanted to escape from all came back like a truck as he waited on the curb.

This time he couldn’t run away.

________________

Pidge grabbed a wrench as she tightened a bolt. Machinery surrounded her as she worked on her project. Matt was with her, straightening some wires and writing codes as he solved formulas.

“Hey, Matt?”

“Yes, Katie?” Her brother's voice sounded from the other side of the room. 

“Did you notice how Lance was acting today? He wasn’t himself. I mean- he has his days, we all do, but this wasn’t one of them. I’m worried about him, what if something happened- something big that he’s keeping from all of us. He always does so much for all of us and he never asks for anything in return- I don’t want him to face- whatever it is- alone. But he always does it! A-and we never know because he doesn’t want to be a burden! I know because he told me- but he thought I was sleeping... I want to help him, he’s like my older brother and I can’t let him keep doing this to himself! I-”

Arms wrapped around her and she turned, embracing her brother as she shook.

A year ago, Lance had been singing a lullaby in Spanish. The words flowed out of his mouth easily, almost lulling her to sleep. Pidges eyes were shut, breathing steady. That day, Pidge had had a panic attack, the stress of projects and work with the added insomnia she suffered had become too much. Lance had been the one to receive her wrath, she had yelled at him. Told him to go away, to leave her alone…

Through that, he hadn’t said a word. He stood there and took it all. An hour later, after school, he had found her in the library having a panic attack. Lance pulled her out, calmed her with his words as she apologized profusely.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” He had said.

He took her home and played video games with her for hours. Once the sky had gone dark, Pidge started to sway. Exhausted to no end, Lance took her into his arms and started to sing. Once the song was over he kept rocking, Pidge almost falling to the wonderful peace of sleep. Until he spoke...

“Pidge, are you awake?”

She didn’t say a word, placing it as him wanting to make sure she was asleep before moving her to her bed But he didn’t.

“Okay good. You need your rest… I’m sorry Pidge. I didn’t mean to be such a burden to you, I try not to be a burden to you guys. I always try. But I guess it’s just part of me to be annoying. I wish I had done better, ‘cause maybe if I had helped you out you wouldn’t have reached this point. Though I guess until you make a time machine, then I’ll have to wait until I can change the past. Be able to do better. Sorry that I let you down Pigeon…”

Lance got up, carrying her to her bed and placing her down. He tucked her in and ruffled her short light-brown hair. “‘Night Katie”.

When Lance closed the door behind him, she sat up. Pidge heard his footsteps as he walked down the stairs. That night she had a bit of a hard time sleeping, Lance's words keeping her thoughts busy.

She noticed, the time that followed, how Lance was- his actions. The way he would force a smile when he was upset, the way his face twitched slightly when their joking words were more to him.

“Don’t worry Katie, we’ll help him. I promise we’ll make sure he shares his burden. We’ll make sure he comes out okay in the end” Matt whispered in her ear as she shook harder. All she could think of was about the boy that suffers alone while only helping those around him. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of the boy that became her brother.


	4. Chapter 4

One Week Later-  
It’s Wednesday, one week after Lance called Keith for a ride from Arus.

When Keith got there, he was in shock, he had stood paralyzed at the sight of a cut up and bruised Lance. His eyes red with dried tear tracks on his cheeks and chestnut hair sticking to his forehead with a mangled bike right behind him. Lance had refused to answer most of Keiths questions truthfully, but made Keith swear not to tell anyone.

He had taken Lance to his house, helped him clean his wounds. He had given Lance a ride home, after much persuading he got Lance to leave his bike at Keith's to be fixed. The very next day, Lance looked like his normal self-- literally normal self. Almost all of his bruises seemed to have disappeared. When their friends had asked him what happened he had lied. Told them that him, his siblings, and nieces had played outside. Rachel seemed a bit hesitant but backed him up.

Present time, Keith and everyone sat at the lunch table. Jokes were thrown around as well as ranting on their classes.

“Guys, so there was this one guy the teacher made me sit next to and, like, he would not stop asking me questions during the lesson. He just wouldn’t stop and I couldn't focus at all so I told him to shut up, and then, the teacher got mad at ME. Like dude no he’s the one whos calling names, not me. But apparently I have a ‘reputation’” Lance ranted on as Keith chuckled. Lance glared at the ravenett and Keith just coughed and looked away.

“I mean.. Nevermind ”.

“Uh-huh, right,” Lance scowled.

“I mean you do? You never shut up so it’s pretty reasonable..” Keith said with a raised brow.

Lance gasped and put a hand to his chest, “You hurt me Keef, hurt I say!”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Stop being so dramatic Lance”.

“That may be impossible,” Pidge stated.

“...I’m hurt guys, I thought you would be on my side”

“Anyways- who has Mr. Scott?” Allura asked.

“Uh, for what class?”

“Writing, English Literature, whatever you call it”.

“Oh, no I have Mr. Egan,” Lance responded.

“I have Mr. Scott!” Romelle raised her hand to grab Allura's attention.

“Thank god, do you understand what he wants us to write about? I have no idea what to make of the essay”.

“Uhh… no. I actually didn't understand our assignment”.

“Oh, let me see it. I might understand,” Rachel said.

“Actually you should let her, she loves to write you should see her stories-”

“-LANCE SHU-!”

“-She wrote multiple romance stories and it’s so cheesy and cliché but good” Lance teased. Rachel turned bright red and slammed her head against the table, hard, and groaned.

“Why must you do this to me? Is it your goal in life to embarrass me?” She mumbled, her voice muffled but they still understood. Lance laughed and the glint in his eyes as he looked at his sister had Keith’s heart melting, he felt a blush creep its way up to his cheeks. He looked down at his forgotten food, took his spoon and started to eat, which was a struggle on its own when Lance was right across from him.

“Damn right it is. I’m just doing my job, Sissy”.

“Don’t call me that,” She peeked up at him squinting her eyes.

“Oh, don’t even bother Rachel, he won’t stop calling me mullet-” Keith gave a small chuckle.

“Or Keef!” Lance added.

“Or Keef…” He said as he shook his head.

“Yeah, Lance won’t stop calling me gremlin either” Pidge said as she gave him a side glare.

“He keeps calling me Space dad and i don’t know why,” Shiro sighed.

“That’s because you are, you shouldn’t even try to deny it”.

“Betrayed by my own boyfriend…”  
_____________________________

Laughter erupted through the halls, causing people around them to jump and stare before looking away. They were in their usual spot, the people around went back to whatever they were doing, this was normal after all. They still had around ten minutes until they needed to be in their next class.

An apple rolled their way and Shiro picked it up. He looked around, “Is this anyone’s apple? Whose apple is this?” When no one answered he looked at Keith and threw the apple at his brother who sat on the floor to the left of Lance, “Here eat your vegetables-no- wait- I meant fruits!”

Everyone chuckled at Shiro’s mistake as Keith wrinkled his nose in disgust at the apple that sat in his lap causing everyone to laugh harder. “I don’t want your stinking apple, why don’t you eat it” Keith said as he threw it back at his brother.

“Keith! You need to eat something healthy!”

“Yeah Keith, you have to have something healthy” Lance smirked while Pidge started to record on her phone. Hunk and Romelle were leaning against the pillar watching as Lance lightly chucked the apple back to the pale boys lap while giggling slightly at Keith.

The boy looked down in his lap at the bright red fruit that sat in the middle of his crossed legs. He picked it up and tossed it in the air, testing its weight. “YEET” Keith exclaimed as he chucked the apple towards the lower lockers, the impact caused the apple to practically explode against the multiple lockers. Larger chunks of the apple flew in different directions as most of the poor fruit was left on the locker doors and on the floor below.

Gasps filled the air as the group broke out into uncontrollable laughter, most were hunched over as Keith brought a hand to cover his mouth. He tried but failed to cover up his laughs as he got up to examine the mess he had made. He looked over at the group in a mix of horror and amusement.

“KEITH! DIOS MIO!” Lance wheezed doubled over while shaking uncontrollably.

“Oh-OH SHIT GUYS THE HALL MONITOR” Shiro warned as all the others steeled away from their laughter into horrified faces while scrambling to get all their stuff together. They scattered into different directions as the lady approached. To be fair, she terrified all the students who went to the Garrison, she was short but gave an intimidating presence that was worse than Pidge and Keith combined, and that was saying a lot.

They all hid away as she approached and saw the mess of the apple. “WHO THREW THIS APPLE HERE?! WHOSE MESS IS THIS?” She exclaimed in a loud and threatening voice as she demanded attention from the students around her. She searched through the faces around, not seeing the group who usually causes a mess. Everyone headed to their classes as the five minute bell rang overhead.   
______________________________

Rachel was worried, there was no other way to put it. With everything that is going on with her father and her family in general.. there was a tense atmosphere in the house. What had worried Rachel, though, was her twin brother. Lance was a lot more jumpy and after what happened the week before- how he had come home with scraps and bruises- it set her on edge even more.

Their mother was asleep when Lance had come home, and so she was completely oblivious with the state her son came back in. He had sworn Rachel to secrecy and to go with the act of simply playing too rough. Lance had used Rachel's makeup and concealer to hide the majority of his injuries.

Rachel hadn't missed the dried tear tracks on his cheeks or the dark circles around his eyes, but she hadn’t said anything. She was in the same state as him anyways, what really worried her was the fact that she had caught her brother like that long before her father came back, and it had only gotten worse…   
________________________________

He groaned as his vision slowly cleared as the black spots dispicated and figures came into view. Patches of color moving towards him and a buzz ringing in his ear. His eyes finally focused and the ringing stopped as he moved to lean back on his elbows, he brought an arm up to rub the side of his head trying to stop the throbbing. Voices were blurred together however one voice stood out as a dark-ish figure came into view.

“Lance are you okay? You took a pretty hard hit..” Keith's voice rang. Lance felt a pressure on his back, helping him sit up as he felt another arm come up to his shoulder. Lance hummed and closed his eyes leaning into Keith’s touch, letting his head rest on the pale boy’s shoulders that had moved a bit to support the weight. Lance felt as the muscles underneath tensed a bit as he settled his full weight on the boy behind him. With all the stress that had been added the cuban could barely get any sleep, but now, as the darkness already creeped at the corner of his vision with the delightful presence of Keith wrapped around him- he felt himself relax. He let the darkness come back to cover his vision as he let out a small sigh from the warmth surrounding him.

This is where he wanted to be.  
_________________________

Keith froze, but his heart sure didn’t as it beat faster and faster until he was sure he was about to have cardiac arrest. He was too scared to move, worried that if he so much as breathed wrong he would wake up Lance.

He’s so adorable- why does he have to be so cute even when he’s asleep?!

Oh god oh god oh god oh god-

A chuckle came from the right and he carefully moved into that direction to see Pidge holding up her phone as she took blackmail photos. His eyes widened, “Pidge!” he hissed.

She just chuckled as she lowered her phone, “Blackmail”.

“I should… probably take him to the nurse… Yeah I’ll do that,” Keith quickly picked Lance up while slowly rising.

He.. is.. so.. Light.

Oh my god oh my god…

I’m holding him…

Oh god  
______________________

Lance found himself in the clouds of darkness just floating about. Well it seemed that way at least…

His mind was hazy and he could barely register the fact that he was merely asleep. He pulled himself back to reality and opened his eyes just a smidge to immediately shut them after being blinded by a white light. He groaned and tried to lift his arm that suddenly felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds.

Slowly he opened his eyes bit by bit while adjusting slowly to the shining bulb above his head.

I’m in… the nurse's office?

I- what happened?

He searched in his mind trying to find an answer but he couldn’t remember anything. The last thing he remembered was when Keith threw the apple at those lockers and they all decided to run as well as half of his english class he had.

Although it’s not like he pays attention anyways.

“Ah! You’re awake!” Lance froze and looked over at the school’s nurse as she closed the door.

“Uh- hi… wh-what happened?” Lances asked, slowly sitting up but stopped when there was pain in his left hip. His face scrunched up a bit and a hand immediately went to the area of pain.

“You were hit in the head with a football and fell down the stairs, you hit your head on the way down and that explains why you were knocked out”.

“Wait, how did I get here?”

“Oh your friend Keith carried you here. Very sweet boy, stayed until he made sure you were okay, didn’t want to leave either. Much like your friends but they all had to go to class”.

“Oh”.

Keith carried me?

And he stayed to make sure I’m okay? He didn’t want to leave?

When the nurse told him about Keith carrying him, it made his heart race and warmth to crawl up to his cheeks. The fact that Keith didn’t want to leave him made his stomach twist into knots.

Am I sick? Why do I feel all… weird?`

“Okay, now I need to check for a concussion since you’re awake now, okay Lance?”

Lance nodded but the thoughts of Keith were still on his mind.  
_____________________

“WE HAD A BONDING MOMENT! I CRADLED YOU IN MY ARMS!”

“Nope! Don’t remember, didn’t happen!”

Pidge was scrolling through her phone, Lance and Keith had been arguing ever since Lance sat at the table for lunch.

“Ugh, Pidge, tell him!” Keith groaned, shoving his head into his hands.

“What are you talking about? It didn’t happen” Pidge said as she shot a smirk his way.

“WHAT?? YOU WERE THERE!”

“Sorry Keef,” Pidge said as she sipped on her apple juice box.

“I hate you,”

“Love you too”.  
_______________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter that RandomlyDrowning wrote, after this is my continuation! Thank you RD for such an awesome story and I hope to do it justice!
> 
> Also, my chapters, sadly, probably wont be as long as theirs. I apologize in advance!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it took forever, and this is probably the longest chapter I’ve ever written ever, but Here it is is! I hope I do it justice, the original author has been so nice! Make sure to give them love as well! RandomlyDrowning

Lance stared blankly at his newest painting. He could see the emotions that went into it, the anger, fear and confusion. Before he could second guess himself, he took a picture and posted it to his instagram.

Clean up was quick, and he hid the painting under his bed where his other rather depressing pieces were, before plopping onto his bed. 

It was the weekend again, he was alone and bored, those combined left him to be lost in his thoughts and ultimately lead to his creation. But with his friends all busy, Rachel and Mama at work, and his younger siblings at a friends house, he didn’t have much choice. 

**Do you really believe that? That your friends were all conveniently ‘busy’? They obviously just didn’t want to hang out with you.**

They all have their own lives… 

**Sure, ones that don't include you.**

Lance huffs, pulling a pillow over his head in frustration. He really didn’t want to deal with this right now. The court date was coming up soon and Lance needed to be the support his family needs, not the mess. 

**Oh please, what can you do, really?**

Research. 

Lance sits up and grabs his phone, he could do research. He might not be Pidge or Hunk, but anyone can use google right? There's gotta be something useful on the internet about Lance's situation.

He would find something.

——————

Keith stared at the newest post from BluePaladin101 with wide eyes. He’d never been one to really connect with art, sure some was pretty to look at but he didn’t always get the big idea. 

With this guy though? His art all had meaning, and this piece was thought provoking and pain filled. It was like Keith was back at the orphanage, alone and scared and furious at the world. 

“You okay Keith?” Shiro asks.

They’re at the park having a family picnic with their visiting Aunt, Uncle and three kid cousins.

“Yeah, fine.” He likes the post before pocketing his phone.

“Come on, somethings bothering you.” He leans closer, “Tell your big brother what's wrong.” 

Keith shoves at his face with a groan,

“It's nothing important.” 

“Does it have to do with why you’re fixing Lance’s bike?” 

“What? No!” Keith glares accusingly, “how do you know about that?!”

“Gee, it's almost like we live in the same house.”

Keith huffs at the sarcastic comment,

“His bike got run over, I’m just fixing it, that's all.” 

Shiro is quiet, watching their cousins play, but Keith can see his brain working and patiently waits.

“I’m worried about him.” He says finally, “Lance I mean. He’s never been one to share his issues, he can complain about a papercut for days but sets himself on fire in chemistry and waits until the Teacher isn’t busy to ask for help. I think something big is happening.” He looks relieved to get it all off his chest.

Keith sighs and rubs at his eyes,

“Yeah… but I don’t know how we’d get anything out of him, he’s like a brick wall sometimes.” 

“I think we all need to get together and talk to him, Let him know we’re here to help.”

“Maybe not everyone, we don’t want him to feel ambushed or crowded.” At least that's how Keith would feel if his whole friend group tried to make him talk about feelings. 

“True… alright, I’ll send the text to Hunk, Pidge, and Allura.” 

—————

“Kit Kat, mom says you need to socialize. The neighbors think you're dead.” Matt barges into the girls room without knocking.

“Only on the inside. I’m working on a new project, be down in a minute.” Pidge doesn’t look up from her laptop, too used to her brother's antics.

He comes over and leans on her head, 

“We both know that's a lie. Just come show your face, eat a cookie and then you can crawl back into your cave.”

“I do not crawl. I strut with dignity.” She scoffs, jerking her head and causing her brother to fall to her bed.

“You literally walk on all fours up the stairs.” He says, unbothered about his new position.

“IT'S FASTER THAT WAY!” Pidge throws a pillow at the boy who blocks with a laugh.

“Seriously, just come downstairs.” 

DING

Pidge glares at Matt before looking at her phone,

“Its the dweebs. One second.”

“Remember what Dad said about weekday hangouts!” Matt calls as he walks out.

… 

**Shiro:  
Hey guys, want to hang after school on Monday? **

**Keith:  
👍🏻 **

**Pidge:  
Have 2 b home by dinner but sure**

**Hunk:  
Sounds good!**

**Allura:  
I will be there**

**Lance:  
Typing…**

**Typing…**

**For a bit sure.**

****  
————

**Monday**

“We’ll be at school, if he tries anything there he’s stupider than I thought.” 

“He harassed you at work, _hijo_.” His mother says pointedly, ringing her hands in front of her nervously.

Lance puts a hand over hers and gives his best smile,

“We’ll be fine. Rach will come home right after school and I’ll be surrounded by my friends. I’ll even ask Shiro for a ride home okay?” 

“Just be careful.” She places a kiss on each of their foreheads. 

Luis, Marco, Veronica, Isabelle and Benji stand behind her, they all smile, the older three encouragingly and the younger two with that childhood innocence. 

Lance would do anything for his family, he’d always known that, but looking at them now reiterates the fact into stone. 

“See you all tonight.” Tomorrow they had to worry about the court. Today he just wanted to have fun with his friends. 

————

_  
Sunday_

_Lance, like his twin and older siblings, got a part time job the earliest age he could. It was sometimes hard to balance school, social life and a job, but they knew it was needed. It was just too many mouths for one woman to feed on her own, too many bills and things that needed fixing._

_Lance was lucky enough to get a job with a mechanics garage nearby. Lucky even more that it was for crop duster planes and other small aircrafts. His love for flying had been with him as long as his love of swimming had been, and while he didn’t get to fly anything (yet) he knew the workings and ins and outs of quite a few aerial crafts._

_He was good at his job, he wasn’t Hunk and Pidge level smart, sure, but he could build a small plane and repair just about any of em. And someday he would be a pilot, a great one…_

_‘If I live that long.’ He muses as he sees his sperm donor lurking nearby. And here he’d been, hoping he’d have a good day._

_“Ah Lance, that man said he knew you, he wanted to ask about his plane and said he’d only listen to you.”_

_Lance didn’t mind his coworkers, or even his boss, but sometimes they could be far too naive and trusting._

_He mumbles something he hopes sounds like a thanks and heads towards the man._

_“I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be in contact with us before the court date.” Lance says in lieu of greeting._

_“Still lacking manners I see.” His glare is piercing but nothing compared to Pidge’s morning look, “I’m just here to ask a question.” He continues, face returning to a neutral state._

_“Unless you actually have a broken plane, I don’t care, actually, I don’t care at all.” Lance turns, mood soured and needing something to do with this pent up energy._

_A large hand grasps his wrist in a bruising grip, spinning Lance around and slamming him against the wall,_

_“You listen here you little brat. After Tuesday, you’ll be living by my rules, I recommend not making me angry before that.”_

_“Hey! Is there a problem here?” His boss storms over, and Lance is released._

_“Everything is fine.” And just like that Howard is stalking away._

_“You alright McClain?”_

_“Yes sir, sorry sir.” Lance brushes off the concern, he was fine, he was a man, everything was **fine**. _

_His boss seemed reluctant to let Lance stay, but they all had a soft spot for the boy so it wasn’t really a surprise when he was put to work. Not that it kept them from watching him and making a mental note not to let that man near here again._

_It also didn’t stop them from reporting the incident to his mother, for Lance was still a minor._

_And boy, was his mama mad. Thankfully not at Lance, but it was scary to see nonetheless._

_“¡¿Tocó a mi bebé ?! ¡Cómo se atrevía ese bastardo a acercarse a mi hijo! Yo debería-”  
(He touched my baby?! How dare that bastard come anywhere near my son! I should-) She paces in the kitchen, just off work, but Lance can't help but picture a wolf at her deadly glare and bared teeth._

_“mamá, estoy bien de verdad!” (mom, I’m fine really!) Lance tries to placate the woman before the whole neighborhood hears her._

_“Mamá, ¿quizás deberías sentarte?” (Mom, maybe you should sit down?) Luis, Lances favorite brother at the moment, was always better at calming their mother down._

_He pulls a chair out for her and she reluctantly plops into it, still muttering about murdering Howard. Veronica hands her some tea, and the exhaustion of the day seems to catch up with her._

_“I’m sorry niños, I never thought he’d return, much less hurt you all or threaten us like this!” Rosa is close to tears, and immediately Lance and his two older siblings are hugging the woman._

_His mother has always been the strongest person he knew, just once he’d like to be her pillar instead of the sledge hammer breaking her down._

__  
...

Monday at school.

“There's my favorite twins!”

“Still the only twins you actually know.”

“Doesn’t mean you won't always be my favorite!” 

Hunk pulls Lance into a hug, and Hunks hugs will always be his favorite. 

“See you at home Lance… be safe.” Rachel waves to the two before heading off to find her own friends. 

“Did something happen?” Hunk asks as he releases the cuban.

“What do you mean?” 

“I don’t know, it wasn’t her usual tone or saying.” 

Hunk could be pretty observant when he wanted to be.

“Weekend wasn’t long enough. And we think she got the rest of us sick.” Lance and his twin had decided it would be easier to fake being sick instead of explaining the whole Court case.

“Oh no really? Do you guys want me to bring soup??” Hunk feels his forehead and goes into nurse mode.

Lance waves him off with a small smile,

“We’ll be fine Hunk. Thank you though.”

They meet up with everyone as usual, the day relatively normal and boring. If anyone notices Lance looking over his shoulder, they don't mention it. 

Now to get through the day without incident.

Piece of cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know I could have just done Sunday then Monday but I came up with stuff out of order. Next chapter is drama and court cases so get ready for that. Thanks for reading and giving me the chance at continuing what the author started!


End file.
